HYDERABAD: Following the discovery of BA.4 Omicron variety, health officials have issued orders to increase daily testing by 50% in all districts. Test kits have also been distributed. Although the authorities have said that there is no cause for concern, they have asked officials in the districts to increase vigilance.
Currently, 10,000 to 12,000 Covid-19 tests are done every day. The state government has so far conducted 3,48,73,707 cumulative tests (till Thursday night). As a matter of fact, experts say that BA.4 sub-variant is much easier to detect than BA.2 during RT-PCR tests with some modifications. "Unlike the BA.2, this type of infection can be screened using the S-gene drop test," said Dr Kiran Madala, an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-certified researcher.
